Travels In Tenerife

Most people take a holiday so they can go and relax for a week by the beach or somewhere. I on the other hand, usually come home from my holiday more tired than when I left! I just find it so hard to go relax on the beach for hours on end because I feel like where I am will always have more to offer, more to explore! The only time I relaxed on the beach on my last holiday was before we had a bus or a train to catch and couldn’t stray too far.

Last year I took a trip with my boyfriend and his family to Tenerife. A volcanic island is the largest and most populated island in the seven canary islands. We stayed in Parque Santiago 3 by Playa De Las America’s – a block of apartments that would rival Santorini in Greece for it’s white brick buildings and crystal clear pools. The apartments were absolutely stunning with a range of pools right outside our back door, and a really nice breakfast offering just across the way. If grabbing breakfast by the apartments isn’t your thing there is a supermarket close by with literally everything you would need.

Parque Santiago III

I don’t think I have ever had a more jam packed/adventure filled four days than my time in Tenerife! A place that is known for relaxing holidays (or drinking!) didn’t really appeal to us – but luckily enough it has a surprising amount to offer!

On our first and third day we rented jet skis. The first time was down by the beach near Parque Santiago III with a local company on the beach. There were four of us so we went two and two on the jet skis and swapped over half way through giving everyone a chance to drive. I was on the back at the beginning which was fine (as I held on for dear life!) but when we switched over my boyfriends weight on the back of the jet ski really threw off the balance, so every bump we went over almost threw him off the back! We went out for about 40 minutes but they didn’t actually take us anywhere in particular. It was a good first experience for jet skis but if you are looking for something better then something like the second excursion we went on would be more for you. We booked a place with a tour that was about a 30 minute drive from where we were staying. They arranged for a bus to pick everyone up and took us to our destination. Not only were the jet skis a lot better and more powerful (making it a lot less scary when we switched around!), but we also drove in through some beautiful caves and stopped by a private beach to jump off our jet skis and go snorkelling!

On our second day we took a trip to the local waterpark Siam Park. It was the middle of November when we went so although it was still fairly busy we didn’t have any queues that weren’t manageable. You would have to devote a full day to this park – it is absolutely amazing! They have a slide called ‘The Tower Of Power’ which is 28metres high. It’s almost a vertical drop, followed by going through a tube in a shark tank that lands in a pool – it’s over and done in about 6 seconds! I’m terrified of heights so going up the endless flight of stairs was actually worse for me than going down the slide!

On our last day we took a boat ride out go pilot whale watching. We saw both Dolphins and Pilot whales and it was a really nice experience. Our guide on the boat was so sweet and spoke the language of everyone on the boat which I thought was a really nice touch. They gave us food as well as stopping up to let people jump off and swim at the back of the boat, and there was even a lower deck which acted as an observatory to watch all the fish underneath the boat. The best time to go down would be when everyone has their food as so many people threw their remainders overboard – the fish were having a right little feast on the chicken balls!

I know that Tenerife is known for its nice restaurants and it’s good nightlife (literally had the best steak of my life on this holiday!) which is why I wrote this solely on the adventure side of things. I would have personally considered the Canary Islands to only be a destination for a relaxing more family style holiday before going on this trip – which is initially what we went for – but I found that it really had a lot to offer, even more so than some of the bigger European destinations I have visited!

Have you ever been to the Canary Islands, or somewhere similar? What did you think of it?

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6 thoughts on “Travels In Tenerife”

I have never been to Canary Islands, but it’s a popular holiday destination here (Poland) too. I think they are definitely worth visiting but I haven’t been so keen on it until now. Sounds like a good time you guys had! Have you been to the other Canary islands too? I don’t know which one would be the best for me: I don’t care about partying and nightclubs, just somewhere nice and quiet with clear waters for snorkeling and exploring. 🙂

This was my first and only time there and it was so much fun! It was definitely never somewhere I had pictured myself going as I like really action packed holidays and considered it more of a place to just relax but this definitely wasn’t the case 🙂

Sounds like you made your own trip and had an awesome time! Sometimes it doesn’t matter if the place you’re at is known for certain things, because there’s always so much to explore. PS I love jetskiing and glad you had a fantastic time. The excursion with the caves and snorkeling sounded like a blast. 🙂

This is great! I’m planning on going to the Canary Islands next year and am trying to decide which island(s) to go to. I agree that even if a place is known for something, you can always turn it into your own adventure and find things that appeal to you.